GETTING OUR DUCKS IN A ROW

A Focused ProcessOptimize Your User's Experience & SEO

My Process- My 4 phases of discovery, design, buildout and launch are distinctive in purpose, tone, and deliverables. The process is designed to focus our conversations on what’s relevant at each step. I try to reduce the uncertainty around design and give you confidence about your decisions. The phases also offer easy breakpoints if you need to pause, reassess the project, commission new assets like photographs or copy. All payments and deliverables are aligned with these phases.

Your Commitment- Designing a semi-custom website is a collaborative process. There are templates, but we will modify them heavily to reflect your unique needs. I’m not a mindreader or an expert in your domain or profession so your input is crucial to a successful outcome. My strengths lie in transforming the content you provide into a visually appealing, useful, well-organized website that presents your organization in its best light to both people and search engines.

DISCOVERY

We distill your needs into a design goal and a roadmap of deliverables that match your budget and timeframe

Design Goal

A smooth project comes from quickly reaching a shared understanding of what your business goals are, then distilling them into the clearest possible problem. Here are a few things to consider:

Why does your site exist?- It’s the simplest question. We can expand that further to: what’s its purpose, and who does it serve? I can pick templates,colors and fonts and organize your content in several appealing and internally logical ways but without a clear goal about your site’s purpose and who it’s serving, the exercise is a waste of your time and money.

Are we speaking the same language?- A design goal overlaps with marketing strategy, but my focus is on internalizing your business context, needs, constraints and requirements and building a shared visual and verbal vocabulary during the interview process.

Style is preference oriented, design is goal oriented- You have your visual preferences, I have mine, and your customers have their own. There are always new visual trends like flat design. Some of these are based on the state of current web technology, other are just trendy, I like to focus on visual aspects that support your site’s goals and can be achieved within your budget.

Prioritize your visitors’ needs- A responsive website rearranges your content based on the size and orientation of your site visitor’s device. On smaller devices like an iPhone, your content is presented in a single column. This puts a premium on prioritizing your message and your intended audience’s needs within the design goals for your website.

DiscoverWhat?I just need a website

If a particular Squarespace template fits your needs completely you might want to add your content yourself. Do your research, some templates are well suited for a DIY approach

If you are comfortable with presentation software like powerpoint or keynote, you might want to do it yourself. A lot depends on your technical ability and your timeframe. I would be glad to help you with setup issues on an hourly basis.

Asset Audit

We need to agree on what content is ready to be dropped into your site without reformatting, redoing, or reworking. As part of discovery I will document what assets are on hand to support your design goals, and what new assets can be created in a given time frame and budget and by whom.

Roadmap

By the end of discovery phase I will also create a roadmap outlining the best way to use our resources to achieve our design goals.

Design

Together We Develop
Visual Solutions for our design Goal

We work together towards a visual solution to the design goal. This is where we will get as close as possible to the real site without all the final content and images.

Site Navigation

I will mockup a representative page as an interactive wireframe.(click to see this page as a wireframe). Depending on the size of the project, some other significant pages will be presented this way as well. We will be able to focus on the content priority and the intended visitor flow, without being side-tracked by images, colors and fonts.

3 Versionsas Style Tiles

I will provide 3 versions of common visual elements including fonts, colors, patterns, and design features. On larger projects Style tiles are half way between mood boards and rough mockups. They let us discuss a design system that addresses your goals and responds to the various screen sizes without committing to a final design too early. On smaller projects we might go directly to 3 rough designs.

Rough Design

I will present an interactive version of a representative page, or several pages depending on the complexity of the project. Its still rough because we will use the content you’ve provided or with stand-in’s. I will build in 1 round of feedback and changes.

Sign Off

After you sign off on a design, I can buildout the final site.

Buildout

Final Copy, Images, and other Assets
Transformed into a fully function website.

I put your site together with final copy, images and other assets, connect it to other accounts.

5 hours a page- is very rough estimate for a how long a site takes to build. Similar pages with all their assets ready will go faster. Some types of assets like lists of names or links will take longer to look good. The time we spend in discovery will help align the number of pages and amount of content with budget and time constraints.

Going Live- At the end of this phase your new website will be fully accessible to the public under its final domain name.

Launch

Take Full Control of your new online presence.

You take full control and ownership of your new site after we clear up any last changes.

Training

Inevitably there are minor updates after going live. In our launch meeting I will walk you through site updates, and familiarize you with Squarespace’s documentation. A number of 1 hour followup sessions are included to help you with followup questions.

Final Handoff

Upon completion of all the last changes, we will close all outstanding bills and I will transfer billing and admin access to you.